Air bearings have been produced by forming bores into metallic bearing surface and inserting clockwork precious stones into these bores in order to perform the throttling function. The throttling function is also often achieved by nozzles drilled directly into the metal.
Another fabrication process involves manufacturing the element supported in the bearings or the fixed portion of the bearing from sintered metal and producing the micronozzles and the geometric shape of the bearing surface by a rolling process and subsequent surface area milling with a diamond-tipped tool bit.
However, it is desirable, and an object of the invention is to produce bearing surfaces whose waviness and roughness lie in the range of nanometers.
Another object of the invention is to provide a miniature air bearing which avoids turbulent flow and who feeding air has precisely defined throttling properties.